Ambulance Etiquette Lessons

A siren pierces the air. Emergency! An ambulance hurtles down the road at top speed, the people inside it feverishly working to save someone’s life. A firetruck races against time towards a burning building. Every minute counts. Sometimes, every second counts. You call 911, your beloved lies dying in your arms. Why are they taking so long, you desperately think, why aren’t they here NOW?

I’ll tell you why. Because drivers on the road who don’t pull over for emergency vehicles are 100% selfish. I was walking down the street today and encountered this very phenomenon. Literally in a full and busy street of cars in the middle of the afternoon, one person pulled over to the side. ONE PERSON. ONE. ONE PERSON ONLY. SERIOUSLY.

What is wrong with people? Are they texting? Talking? Figuring that it doesn’t have to do with ME so I can just ignore it? This is one of those things that makes me weep for human kind. It’s only a few seconds to pull over and let an emergency vehicle through and it means SOMEONE’S LIFE.

Oh well, the guy in front of me didn’t pull over and so I don’t have to either. Oh well, I can’t quite see where the ambulance is so it’s probably not behind me. Oh well, there’s room in the other lane, they can just go around me. Oh well, I’m in a hurry and I don’t have time to pull over and then get back out into the road. Oh well, I’ll just stop right here, that’s as good as pulling over, right?

LISTEN UP. This is not a hard concept to grasp. Stop over thinking. Stop justifying. STOP. PULL OVER. PULL OVER RIGHT AWAY. THAT’S IT. YES I AM YELLING.

I think it’s because there are no direct repercussions for these drivers to deal with. After all, firemen and paramedics aren’t going to stop to get a license number or punch someone out. They’re busy, oh, SAVING LIVES AND SHIT.

We should get cameras out there on the trucks. And every one who doesn’t pull over when it’s lights and sirens time gets hit right square in the wallet. The money goes straight into the relief fund for first responders. It doesn’t mean they don’t still deserve a punching. THEY DO. Before you know it someone’s going to put together that when someone dies because of the delay caused by the driver who doesn’t pull over, there’s a chance that they could be found to be culpable.

It would seriously warm my cold, icy stone of a heart if someone knows of a place where people are still decent folk who give the slightest crap that an emergency vehicle needs to get through? Please don’t let that place be the past. Or the future. Or Michigan. Please, pull over. And then you can think to yourself, Hey I just did my part for saving someone’s life. Isn’t it wonderful that in just a minute or two, I could help someone that much. I’m awesome! I should buy me a drink!

DOESN’T EVERYONE WANT TO FEEL THAT WAY? THEN PULL OVER! IT’S FUN AND EASY AND YOU MIGHT GET A DRINK OUT OF IT IF YOU LIKE THAT KIND OF THING, WHICH I DO.